Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Found by Bike

Carrie and I took a little jaunt down by the beach this past Sunday. She's still getting used to her new fixed gear conversion, but is handling it very nicely. This was evident in our maneuvering through the Huntington Beach mess from the Newport line through Bolsa Chica. Neither of us got hit by another bike path user, nor did we hit any of the errant swervin' mervins encountered. Sunset Beach was the usual mellowness, save one aggro SUV operator that just had to get by us, only to get behind another vehicle that was traveling more slowly then we were. Some people's kids...

From Surfside to Seal Beach we had to ride the shoulder of the PCH, which was the first time Carrie had been out on that bike in a high speed traffic area. Her pace quickened and we made quick work of it. After passing Seal Beach Blvd, I got to show her a trick on how to quickly and easily get across a busy six lane state highway. The light at Seal Beach Blvd had just turned green, so instead of waiting for the left turn lane there I led us down PCH until the traffic behind us ran out, allowing us to zip a left turn into a quiet resedential to access downtown. It was almost spooky, going from that busy highway to a super quiet narrow resedential street. Two different worlds.

Our way was made down to the pier and then across town to see if a group ride that was supposed to be turning around in Seal Beach had arrived yet. By the time we arrived at their intended turn-around point it was discovered through a couple of text messages that they were already long gone. We were both hungry, so seeking out some good food that wasn't going to break the bank became a priority.

After tooling back to Main Street and taking an initial look-see, we turned around just before PCH. The first place on the right-hand side of the road was this little place with a bunch of whole chickens cooking on an open grill. I asked Carrie if chicken was ok and she agreed, landing us both at Charo Chicken. A couple of burritos were ordered up and were ready in about three minutes. That was when we discovered that we had hit the food jackpot because those chicken burritos were fantastic. Since Charo is a small chain out here in SoCal, now we know where to go if we have a chicken burrito craving.

The ride back and through Huntington Beach seemed to be a lot less crowded. It was either that, or the goofiest users of the bike path had already departed. Once we got back onto the Santa Ana River bike path, Carrie opened it up a bit and we hauled back to where my truck was parked up-river.

We had succeeded in enjoying a nice afternoon together, going for a good bike ride, dodging the dangerous traffic on the beach bike path, beating the inland heat and also finding great chicken burritos! It's doubtful that we would have hit Charo Chicken if we had been in a motor vehicle. Having an unfettered view of those chickens on the grill and catching a big whiff of them cooking while making our u-turn is what sold us on stopping there. We always find the best surprises by bike.